Xenophobes and Racists. If the Shoe Fits...

Luce Cloutier & Mario Beaulieu. If the shoe fits, wear it!

On Friday I promised a piece about xenophobia and racism as it pertains to the radical French language and sovereignty movement in Quebec.
This in response to Quebec language militant Mario Beaulieu taking great exception that some in the English mainstream press and within the blogosphere (sites like ours,) had the audacity to use these terms in describing the PQ, Pauline Marois and the radical language movement.

Here is the type of thing Mr. Beaulieu is complaining about;

“Xenophobia” is applicable because it literally refers to a fear of the other. It’s not a pretty word. It pains me to use it when describing those who shape the discourse in my home province. When Quebec nationalists speak incessantly about the “Anglo threat...,” 

There’s no denying the furor that would ensue if Quebec politicians spoke of the “Arab threat,” or the “Chinese threat.” When one of the province’s most popular radio hosts, Benoît Dutrizac, mocks the Anglo accents of veteran, bilingual Montreal city councillors, where is the outrage? And had Charles Adler imitated a Québécois accent; what then? The double-standard is shocking: It is perfectly acceptable in Quebec to demean Anglophones as a form of over-compensation for past abuses. Institutionalizing that debasement is equally tolerated... ”   
Read the rest of the story: Xenophobia and Quebec’s uncomprehending radicals

and here is part of what Beaulieu complained;

"For example, in The Gazette, National Post and the Globe and Mail, Quebec separatists or those who want to strengthen Bill 101 are depicted as Franco-supremacist, intolerant, anglophobes, radicals, close-minded idiots, who want to assimilate, destroy and despise minorities. And spread without restraint, downright hateful comments from readers who are not shy to draw parallels with neo-Nazi and fascist movements. Link{Fr}

"xen-o-pho-bi-a"
-unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange.

French language militants and Peequists are all quick to say that the sovereignty movement is inclusive and is based solely on French as the common language and all who speak it are welcomed wholeheartedly into the fold.
Unfortunately, it just isn't true.

For the last couple of years we have been treated to incessant harangues by these so-called open and inclusive democrats, including Mr. Beaulieu and the PQ's newest minister, Jean-François Lisée, who complain bitterly that the island of Montreal is in danger of being lost because more and more of its citizens have a language other than French as their mother tongue.
In fact, alarm bells were pushed by the above two gentlemen when shock of all shocks, it was revealed that the balance of mother tongues is shifting over to the dark side and soon the majority of Montrealers will have a mother-tongue other than French.
The horrors!

Let us consider the 'problem'
Each year Quebec welcomes about 45,000 immigrants, of which, about 10,000 leave for other provinces leaving 35,000 net newcomers, of which about 30,000 settle in the Montreal area.

About 95% of these people have a language other than French as a mother tongue, so it is easy to understand that slowly but surely the statistic concerning mother tongue will shift away from French (and English).

But so what?

Let us take the example of a Spanish speaking family named Gonzalez who immigrated from El Salvador to Montreal and who speak no English at all.
The family sends their children to French school and the parents learn French quickly and get jobs, working in French. The years go by and the family is firmly rooted into the French side of the language equation, economically, scholastically, socially and culturally. The family still speaks no English and in public all their interaction is in French. That being said, at home, they speak their native Spanish.

And therein lies the rub.
Because they speak Spanish around the dinner table, they are, according to Mr. Lisée and Mr. Beaulieu, a 'problem' and are counted on as being on the wrong side of the equation in the 'mother-tongue' debate.
When militants describe a language problem in Montreal, the Gonzalezes are part of the problem!

"The future of the French language is at risk because of a steady decline in the number of people on the island of Montreal who use it as their main language, Lisée said, citing statistics from the Office québécois de la langue française showing the number of people who speak French at home dropped from 61 per cent in 1971 to 54 per cent in 2006. If nothing is done, Lisée said, it could drop to 47 per cent in less than 20 years.
“The weakening of the francophone majority imperils the ability of new arrivals to integrate in French in the city, and makes the future of the French language extremely fragile,” said Lisée, a former journalist and adviser who worked with former premiers Jacques Parizeau and Lucien Bouchard."-Jean-François Lisée, Link

When militants complain about mother-tongue, they are not only complaining about immigrants who assimilate over to the English side of the language equation, but the Gonzalezes, as well.

But honestly, what more could the Gonzalezes do to satisfy Mr. Beaulieu and Mr. Lisée?

You cannot get around the fact that the 'mother-tongue' debate is ringed by xenophobia, the only 'flaw' that language militants perceive in the Gonzalezes, is where they were born.

Mr. Lisée is particularly galled that 'real' French speaking natives are leaving the island of Montreal and being replaced with the foreigners, many like the French-speaking Gonzalez family.
And so when French language militants, complain about 'mother-tongue,' it is not really a language issue, but largely a foreigner issue, or to put it more bluntly, a 'too many foreigners' issue.

Whenever you hear the militants bring up the 'mother-tongue' debate, alarm bells should go off in your head.
Those who complain are less concerned about the French language and more concerned about who it is speaking French and whether they are 'de souche' or not.
It is no different than complaining about skin colour, religion or ethnicity and no matter how hard all these 'foreigners' try to integrate into francophone Quebec society, according to the language militants, they will always be on the other side of the 'good citizen' ledger.

In the end, there is only one solution to the 'problem' of the shifting away from French as a mother-tongue in Montreal and that is to curb immigration.
So spin it however you want, complaining about mother-tongue is xenophobia, pure and simple, something Mr. Beaulieu, Mr. Lisée and all the other radicals should be called out over.

Now before I go further into this post, I'd like to preface everything I write above and below as applying to a tiny vocal minority of extremists who enjoy a disproportionate amount of media exposure.
The vast majority of francophones in this province (including sovereigntists) are as racist or xenophobic as are their Anglophone counterparts.
Unfortunately for all of us, we are over-exposed to the French language mullahs in the media, who do preach xenophobia and hate.

As an observer, I actually remain pleasantly surprised that in spite of the vast media campaign to demonize English, Quebecers remain unconvinced, much to the frustration of language militants who have no other choice but to ramp up the linguistic pressure and exaggerate problems that do not exist.

Perhaps it is the fact that collectively, francophone Quebecers, who having been led up the garden path by the Church for centuries, are loathe to put too much trust in those telling them how to conduct their lives.

Now let us turn to the racism part of this post and specifically, the most recent campaign of the Mouvement Québec français and an action by its branch in the Lanaudiere region, which recently won a great deal of media attention by compiling 1,000 language complaints for the Office québécois de la langue française.

The thousand complaint story was splashed all around the media with not many reporters bothering to dig into the specifics where they would find that many of the complaints were completely bogus, like those that cited Churches for posting signs in English.
Even the most radical of French language militants knows that religious institutions and not for profit educational institutions are exempted under Bill 101 from the obligation to use French at all.

I'll save all that for another post to concentrate on another big aspect of the complaints, that of English names or trademarks, those that the MQF demand be accompanied by French descriptors.

The very idea that a company like Canadian Tire, an institution that has operated in Quebec for about seventy years, be forced to change its name is galling, considering that the demand has zero to do with familiarizing unilingual Quebecers with what is being sold in the stores, and everything to do with humiliating and showing up those Anglophone companies who dare to trade under a non-French, corporate name or trademark.

According to the MQF, the issue is about respect and that an English name, in and of itself, is offensive and disrespectful to the majority.
Is that not utterly racist?
Imagine the public reaction if all the anglophones in your place of work were obliged to change their names to something more acceptable to the MQF?

The respect that the MQF demands, reminds me of the respect demanded by young King Joffrey in HBO's War of the Thrones, a nasty sort who demands that subjects bow down to him both physically and metaphorically, under pain of certain death.
I don't call that respect, I call it intimidation.

Racism?
Not convinced, let us explore the story just a little further.
Forget about FUTURE SHOP or CANADIAN TIRE for the moment, the MQF and the local windbag, Luce Cloutier, took the debate over English to a whole new level of ugliness, when she included in the 1,000 complaints, stores and businesses that sported English proper names.

"As for complaints about company names, the photos showed not only the usual Canadian Tire and other Pizza Hut, but also several IGA, Bentley and Reitmans, which are not English words but proper names or initials without meaning.

Mr. Beaulieu believes, however, that all these companies should accompany their names with a generic name, according to the law, as did the Second Cup chain, which appears to Quebec under the name 'Les Cafes Second Cup' " . Link{Fr}

"It has become normal in our environment to see store names like Reitmans, Smart Set, Bentley said Ms. Cloutier. Link{Fr}

So let us get this straight, if a store is named after an English founder (Reitmans) it needs a descriptor, but if a store is name after a French founder (Tanguay) it does not.

I'm curious if the cookie store called Monsieur Felix & Mr. Norton, needs half a descriptor?
Such is the utter pettiness and stupidity of these racists.

Madame Luce Cloutier, went on to say that certain English Italian Spanish 'foreign' proper names like 'Quiznos' are also 'unaccetpable'
And so, following the MQF criteria, here is a list of store names that need and don't need descriptors.

Harveys / Lafleurs
HMV / Archambault
Reitmans / Marie Claire
Aldo / Jean-Paul Fortin
Birks / Sebag
Bentley / Fournier
Greiche & Scaff / Antoine Laoun
Rogers / Videotron
Laura Secord / Laura
Ernest / Vincent D'Amérique
Parasuco / Tristan

Many of you readers are looking at the list above and asking yourselves if this is joke, but I assure you, it is not.
This is what the MQF is about....
I've heard some racist crap in my life and this fits right in with the worst.
Demanding that proper names pay 'tribute' to the French language is discrimination pure and simple.

According to the MQF, this sign is offensive

Perhaps Mr. Beaulieu and Madame Cloutier could implore the PQ to host a Wannsee-like conference to figure out rules and regulations pertaining to proper names and what will be permitted with or without descriptors.
After all, there are some thorny issues.
Stores like Ernest can be considered English or French, but considering that Ernest the owner, (who I know personally) is an Anglophone...well...

What about a store like 'Simons?'
Although the family has Scottish roots, the word Simon can actually be considered French.
But then one has to consider pronunciation and alas, the English version prevails (Sigh-mon, and not Cee-mo), so I guess a descriptor is in order.

Ah well, the subject boggles the imagination of any bone fide racist.

Ditto for Reitmans

By the way, I'd like to point out to that miserable piece of hate, Luce Cloutier, that the Reitmans clan (who I also have the honour to know personally) are a fine old Montreal family who run their retail empire from a head office right here in Montreal.
I don't know what her problem is with this Quebecois family.
Is it because they are Jewish, or is it because they are a Anglo?
Like the English, the Scots, the Irish, the Italians and a multitude of of other ethnicities who dominated business and industry in Quebec, are we all disdained for our success?

Back to Reitmans, a company which started with one store on St. Lawrence boulevard in 1928 and now operates close to 1,000 stores with 10,000 employees, across Canada.
For almost eighty-five years the company has provided employment for Quebecers and has paid millions upon millions in corporate taxes here.

Perhaps Madame Cloutier wishes to chase the head office of Reitmans out of Quebec, perhaps to Toronto, where they will be welcomed instead of humiliated.
Such is the depravity of the MQF racists.
For shame.

Incidentally, just in case the MQF doesn't know, there isn't a Quebecer in a gazillion who does not know that you don't go to Canadian Tire to buy a dress and you don't go to Reitmans to buy a hammer.

All the rest is racism, pure and simple.

Quebec Language Mullahs Give us Lessons in Free Speech

I can't think of a better analogy than comparing those sanctimonious French language militants who are demanding Anglos tone down the hateful 'rhetoric' to that of the Muslim extremists demanding that the West take stern action against those who insult the prophet Muhammad.

The idea that these zealots can give us a lesson in what constitutes free speech or hate is not only laughable but is as downright offensive as the Arab mullahs who demand that we conduct our lives in a manner that they prescribe....or else.


Last week the insufferable blowhard, Mario Beaulieu, chief cook and bottle washer over at the  Societe Saint-Jean-Baptiste, made an impassioned public plea for the English media to tone down what he considered hateful commentaries in the English press depicting the Parti Quebecois and certain of its members, especially Pauline Marois as being xenophobic and racist.
I suppose it is no fun being called those things and I don't suppose it is fun being called a colonialist or a tête carrée, but such is the price of free speech.

Of course the story got a lot of play in the French media, any story that depicts Francophones as victims is ratings gold.

Recently the police arrested a fellow who chose his words rather poorly on his Facebook page, words that did indeed sound like a direct threat, even if it was the farthest thing from his intent.

That's not the story today, it is about the aftermath where the police invited the public to be vigilant and guard against hate and report dangerous and threatening speech in social media.

To francophone language extremists this was nothing else than MANNA FROM HEAVEN!!

Complaining about Anglos to the OQLF and now the police is what they live for, the thrill of denouncing a hated enemy, an undertaking too delicious to resist.
If the police charged a $10 fee for every complaint, our deficit could be tamed in no time.

I always knew that our site annoys these fanatics to no end. The fact that I denounce their pettiness, expose their racism and treat them for what they are, is all the more painful to endure, knowing that this site is read by tens of thousands of people, all around the world.

When I put up a disparaging cartoon, it is out there for eternity and I understand it hurts, but as they say on the playground, tough noogies.

Each week I am the beneficiary of several denunciations and email threats, so I'm not surprised that the low-brows over at Imperatif francais complained to the Quebec police that our site is fomenting hate.

What did surprise me was that whoever is behind the Twitter account has the time to go through the comment section and is sending 'offending' comments off to the police for investigation, as well.
I won't reprint these, lest some readers be upset that they are a target of extremists and that their free speech is attacked.

By the way, it is quite an impressive time commitment, all this reading, that is. I suppose the author of this account is one of my most loyal readers!

At any rate, these rabid language mullahs are about as sophisticated as their Iranian and Pakistani counterparts, finding offence in just about any barb thrown at them and just like the Arabian extremists, What's good for the goose is never good for the gander

While  language mullahs like Richard Le Hir take great offence and brand as hate my humorous reference to Quebec as Kébecistan, he has no problem writing for (and now heading up) a web site that publishes outright racist articles by the likes of Ivan Parent and company, as well as reprinting as the most blatant antisemitic screeds.

And so when Gilles Proulx goes on television and uses racial slurs to describe Anglos, all is fine in Quebec mullahland.
When the Anglos are described as colonialist, exploiters, cultural imperialists and purveyors of cultural genocide, all is fair.

Actually, it is all fair. It is called free speech.

You can call us what you will, and we can do the same.

I make no threats, I only describe what I see as possibilities. If those predictions are irksome, so be it.
 
I shall leave this subject with a small lesson for French language mullahs to consider, even though the exercise will surely go for naught.


Here is a picture of the NHL's president Gary Bettman that was re-printed in a Quebec sports blog.
I won't name the blog, it is of no consequence, because they did nothing wrong.

Now the picture has been Photoshopped to include bullet holes, likely indicating humorously the displeasure that the author holds over the NHL lockout and who he or she holds to fault.

Is this HATE?

I think you'd all agree it is not, just good fun, perhaps in bad taste, but nothing more.

Is this website making a THREAT?

Here's where I need Quebec language mullahs to concentrate and consider..

What if this website, Nodogsoranglophones, printed a picture of Pauline Marois with those same bullet holes?
What would their reaction be?
How many phone calls and emails would be directed to the police?
I'll let readers answer that question and I'll ask the language mullahs to respond honestly.

As for calling Peekists or language mullahs xenophobes or racists, that is the free right of the press and whether those targeted don't like it, is entirely beside the point.

As for Mr. Beaulieu's contention that it is the Anglos who are ratcheting up the language tension, all I can say is that he has the credibility of an ignorant, fanatical mullah calling on the faithful to wage Jihad on the West, because we have insulted Islam.

Nobody, but nobody in this province is more responsible for upsetting whatever linguistic harmony we have and to listen to him whine about unfair treatment is galling to the nth degree.

As to whether these people are xenophobes and racists, on Monday, I'm going to offer two devastating examples that proves that they are.

As for Imperatif francais, it isn't a hate website, it is an ignorant website, run by small-minded anglophobes, who go into convulsions at the sight of a hand-painted, 'waitress wanted" sign.

Like the SSJB, they work to create discord.
After all, if every one of their demands concerning language and culture were met, sovereignty support would plummet even farther into never-never land.

Just like the mullahs who promote hate against the west, Quebec's language militants are working hard towards creating conflict, division and hate, in a vain efforts to drive Quebecers towards sovereignty via fear and enmity.

Reader Chronicles....Volume One

 Today we start what I hope will become a regular feature of this blog, stories written by our contributors detailing their personal experiences as an anglo or ethnic from Quebec.

These stories may include a description of growing up in Quebec, moving away, moving here, what it is like to be an ex-patriot, your early, medium or late childhood as an anglo, comparisons between life here and elsewhere, school life, work environment and community life, not in the least;
You don't have to give your name and can leave out specific details in order to protect your anonymity
Here is our first contribution;

A Brief Chronicle of my Youth
BY ED BROWN

 I was born in 1936.  Hitler and Mussolini were sabre rattling across Europe. My father taught me to read at four years of age using the comics in the Montreal Star which came out in mid afternoon with a later version at 6 pm.
My  grandfather had been Mayor in Moncton, New  Brunswick  for many years in the 30's and 40's so my father was indoctrinated in politics. He would sit me on his knee and after we had read the comics together, he would read me some of the articles that he felt  I could understand. At the supper table he would discuss the world situation with my mother. I noticed that while he did this, my sisters would gab to each other. As an ardent eavesdropper, I couldn't understand how they would not want to know what was going on around them. I  listened and learned.

    At age six  I fully felt the fear of war as my two uncles were in the Dieppe raid. One of whom was close to us and I loved him very much. He survived but was killed in France a few years later. I could not understand why he died protecting a country that Frenchmen here refused to defend. My close friend  Marcel Bedard spoke English well with a heavy accent and could not understand why my uncles were allowed to go and his weren't. He said they were told in Church that war is a sin.
    After the war there were tears and jubilation. Men who had been away for six years  ('38 to '45 many went before the war started, to bolster England's defences) finally arrived home among us. Some to find out that women they loved had tired of waiting and found someone else. Others to find that children had been mysteriously born in their absence. These children were passed off  as war orphans of which there were many and life went on.

     There was no lack of jobs on the English side but by 1950 companies like Bell and CNR were demanding grade nine (second high) for  menial jobs and full high school for office or executive positions. This made it difficult for francophones to get hired as many had not gone to high school at all.  Claiming a grade nine education, I became a teller at the Dominion Bank on Rachel street. Each of the four tellers balanced off fifty thousand in cash every day. We were right in the Jewish business district and most payrolls were paid in cash. We each had a forty five hand gun in our cage which we  kept under the counter out of sight. The police came once for an accidental alarm and they were angry because they only had thirty eight revolvers.

Most of Verdun at that time was forested. From Woodland avenue out toward LaSalle, it  was all bush. We had apple and pear trees in our yard. Watching ships go through the canal was interesting. Squeezing through the bridges and the locks, men from all over the world could reach out and touch your hand. The canal and rail lines were an anathema to bus drivers. Sometimes after waiting for a hundred car freight train to pass on the tracks that ran between St. James and Notre Dame, a boat would be coming through the canal and the bridge started turning to signify another long wait. The Seaway cleared up the boat problem and the tracks have been rerouted and removed.

    The Laurentian mountains area was the holiday camps for poor people. Both C.N. And C.P. had lines running through them. It enabled cheap transport to children's summer camps, family cottages and rentals for short or whole summer periods. In 1942  my grandmother came over from Ireland. My mother had rented a cottage in Weir, between Lac des Seize Iles and Huberdeau. Since my father worked for C.N. (auditor of passenger accounts) his long service gave us passes to travel. He  had been exempted from the war because his work in the railway was considered essential. At that time rail was the only link completely connecting Canada. Movement of  POWs (Prisoner Of War) was under his responsibility.

    My grandmother felt Verdun was too bustling for her. The telephone and doorbell annoyed her. “I've no idea why anyone would want one of the damn things. The door is open why do they have to ring the bloody bell.” My grandmother was born and raised and worked on the docks of Dublin and she could out-swear any sailor. The only time she went to mass was Christmas eve.

    My father arranged with our neighbour who was a warden at the Catholic Church to pay for the seats. They charged fifty cents to discourage people who only came at Christmas and took the place of regulars. It was 1950. I was fourteen and being the only regular church goer in the family I was elected to take her. My father gave me the one dollar for both seats and we left. Arriving at the Church our neighbour stated “That will be a dollar for the seats.”  Grandma perked up and said, loudly  “Jesus, Mary and Holy St. Anthony, what do ya mean a dollar. for the seats? Sure we don't want to buy them, we only want to park our arse on them.” People in the pews were looking back to see what the commotion was. Our neighbour glared at me with a look that said get her under control. I don't remember how I did it, but I did. Most of that evening is a blur, thankfully.  The upshot is that my grandmother took over the cottage at Weir and we rented it year round. 

    My father bought a two room house in the forties and it was decided that until he built another room I would live with my grandmother in the country. It was wonderful. Gram didn't care where I was or what I did, I was free to roam the wilderness. I slept under a great fir tree near Pike lake on the Log Road, swam in the lake and the creek, ate berries and went home when I was really hungry.

 School was the Anglican Church. In winter, each of the six  boys in the village school had to bring a log for the pot belly stove which was in the center of the  room. The two girls were exempt. My grandmother gave me the smallest log she could find. The Schoolmaster said I would be strapped if I didn't bring bigger logs. Gram said “To hell with him, it's not him that chops them it's me.  I need them here.” I was thinking, “wait a minute it's me that chops them,”  but I knew it was no use, so I found a solution. We usually dropped our logs in the snow and played outside the school. When I saw the school master appear I would grab someone else's log and dash inside. I made sure to grab a different boys log each day so no one noticed.

    I spent two years with her and went home to hard labour. My father had added two more rooms to the house and decided to dig out the basement. Since the house came with three lots, I was given the job of running the wheelbarrows that my father and uncle filled with earth up a ramp and into the empty lots beside. The wet mud was heavy. To get the  barrow moving I had to make my skinny twelve year old body stiff and lean over until my nose was almost touching the mud. At the end of the summer I had a pair of shoulders like Gordie Howe  It was 1948, I was going to high school and felt ready to take on the world.  

    By 1952 all was right with the world. Mayor Camille Houde, having been let out of prison was back in form in Montreal and Maurice  'Le Chef'  Duplessis was at the helm in Quebec. Duplessis was against the separatists. He wanted stability and order and we got it. Montreal on the other hand was still Houdeville. Clubs and gambling were wide open much to the joy of the young  men, twenty four hours a day. The cops were bribeable and tough. They only arrested you if you gave them a hard time. First they would beat the hell out of you. On Friday and Saturday night there was two cops on each of the four corners at St. Laurent and St.Catherine, each with a truncheon in his hand.
   
 Night life on the lower main was grand. In the many western clubs where live bands played Hank Williams type music the beer was forty cents per quart. A dime tip to the waiter was considered good. Inside the clubs you were protected by the pegre. It stayed that way until Mayor Drapeau decided to lean on the clubs and gambling houses, The gangsters needed money, so we started to have a bank robbery per day in the city.

    Peace reigned until the election of Jean Lesage and a Liberal government . They took control of education and the welfare system and made it a provincial responsibility. They pumped millions into education. The quiet revolution began to form in the mind of the education minister, a man called Rene Levesque. 
                                                                          Ed Brown.

                  
If you'd like to contribute a piece, please contact me via email.

Remember, reader contributions are vital to this blog,

Why Anglos Hate Pauline.

Most of we Anglos and Ethnics who have chosen to remain in Quebec all these years, are a hardy and resilient lot.
Depending on our age, we have survived various Parti Quebecois governments and separatist premiers starting with  René Lévesque through those who came after,  Pierre-Marc Johnson,  Jacques Parizeau,  Lucien Bouchard,  and Bernard Landry.

I don't think that I'm talking out of turn in saying that few of us were thrilled with the previous PQ governments and the Premiers that led them, but it seems to me that Pauline Marois, who hasn't even started her turn as Premier, is by far the most disliked despised, feared and unpopular among the lot.

That's my opinion but I daresay that in talking with those around me, it accurately reflects the sentiment of our community.

Our ultimate disdain is certainly not based on the fact that she is a woman, the question of gender is certainly beside the point. While chauvinists would argue that women aren't forceful enough to be leaders, nobody would argue that Pauline hasn't got the intestinal fortitude to lead, she may not be a Margret Thatcher but she certainly is no Elizabeth May.

So what is the difference between Pauline and almost all of her above-mentioned predecessors?
Actually, quite a lot.

"With Jacques Parizeau, it was like an army behind a general, says former PQ minister Louise Beaudoin. René Lévesque was charismatic, emotional and passionate. Lucien Bouchard, was theatrical, it was inspiring. Pauline Marois?

While none of these sovereigntist leaders were perfect, far from it, none were particularly 'scary' and none went out of the way to antagonize Anglos, at least not to the extent that Pauline does.

The first and foremost difference between Pauline and them, is the fact that they all were fluent in English, she sounds like she has never heard the language spoken in her life and perhaps she hasn't.

On the rarest of occasions when she offers a short comment in English, she speaks as if she is trying to repeat phonetically something that was prepared for her beforehand. At best, the effort is sadly amusing, at its worst, shockingly embarrassing .
When she speaks English, her handlers stand beside her anxiously, like a mother attending a kindergarten recital, hoping upon hope that little Paulina will not embarrass herself by botching the three lines she has memorized by rote!
One of the basic rules of politics is not to speak in a language where you are handicapped, even if you can manage a few words. Speaking English so poorly, she looks weak and confused, not a particularly good look for someone running a province.
But the real problem relating to her lack of English is not communication, the problem has to do with the optic that unilingualism imposes, which is a complete and utter lack of understanding of another culture.
Her lack of English indicates a narrow and cloistered life and quite honestly, a closed and restricted mind.
While it may be perfectly acceptable for many Quebecers to remain unilingual, their circumstances allow for it, it remains unacceptable for the Premier of Quebec, a province that is surrounded (as we are so often reminded by sovereigntists) by a sea of English.

All that  being said, the overwhelming  reason we hate Pauline so much is the fact that she went out of the way to antagonize us during the election campaign.
She deliberately beat us up in order to appeal to the hardliners she was trying to win away from the two other more militant sovereigntist parties.
Because of the emergence of a third party, the CAQ, Pauline strategized that she could win the election by appealing to the hardliners, hoping the majority in the middle would split the vote.

It was a cruel, cold and cutthroat move, throwing a whole community under the bus for crass political gain.

During the campaign, she put forward the most ridiculous hardline and repressive policies, none of which could possibly work and most quite illegal, all in an effort to woe away Quebec solidaire and Option Nationale voters. 
In the end, her strategy worked... somewhat.
She may have won the election with 32% of the vote, but even her supporters are loath to admit that it was largely a Pyrrhic victory.
Pauline alienated more than she won over and all the election proved is that if the Liberals had anyone else at the helm except Jean Charest, Pauline would have lost the entire election to a Liberal majority and would today find herself pulling the knives out of her back in the finest tradition of the Parti Quebecois.

In assessing Pauline's character, the only tool that I can think of,  takes me back to college where I recall studying the code of Roman Personal Virtues, which remains surprisingly useful today;

"These are the qualities of life to which every citizen (and, ideally, everyone else) should aspire. They are the heart of the Via Romana — the Roman Way — and are thought to be those qualities which gave the Roman Republic the moral strength to conquer and civilize the world. Today, they are the rods against which we can measure our own behavior and character, and we can strive to better understand and practice them in our everyday lives." Wikipedia

Here is a sampling of these virtues and how Pauline stacks up;

'Comitas'..."Humour" Ease of manner, courtesy, openness, and friendliness.
Nobody, not even her closet allies and friends could ever define Pauline as such.

'Clementia'..."Mercy" Mildness and gentleness.
FAIL...

'Dignitas' "Dignity" A sense of self-worth, personal pride.
FAIL...

'Firmitas'..."Tenacity" Strength of mind, the ability to stick to one's purpose.
When it comes to the political issues of the day, Pauline has flipped-flopped more times than a trained seal at Marineland.
In the election campaign, Marois did a 180 degree turn on at least three occasion, after public reaction to her announced policies went south.

'Gravitas'..."Gravity" A sense of the importance of the matter at hand, responsibility and earnestness.
FAIL...

'Honestas' "Respectibility" The image that one presents as a respectable member of society.
FAIL....

'Humanitas'..."Humanity" Refinement, civilization, learning, and being cultured.
FAIL...

'Industria' "Industriousness" Hard work.
I give her this one, she's definitely a keener...

'Pietas' ..."Dutifulness" a respect for the natural order socially, politically, and religiously. 
FAIL...

'Prudentia'..."Prudence" Foresight, wisdom, and personal discretion.
Big fat FAIL...

'Severitas'..."Sternness" Gravity, self-control.
FAIL...

'Veritas'...Truthfulness" Honesty in dealing with others.
Big fat FAIL...

Think I was too hard on her?......Please tell me where?
Can somebody please describe her positive attributes. Scouring vigile.net you'd be hard-pressed to find too many articles describing Pauline in a flattering manner, this from militant sovereigntists.

Here is another point that separates her from the other Premiers, who were all stabbed in back by those in the PQ seeking new leadership.
Pauline would actually fall into the category of the backstabber. Remember Gilles Duceppe?

Then there is one last reason to despise her, her husband the utterly detestable Claude Blanchet, who will happily embrace the title of First Lady Husband of the Province.
With his record, he will somehow turn the unpaid position into a cash cow.

But hold on.
Interestingly, there is another reason we are taking such a hard and aggressive position towards Marois.

Can it be, (shudder!) that the nutbar who tried to kill Pauline actually touched on a truth when he shouted his warning?

"Les Anglais se réveillent!"..."The English are Rising!" 

Is nobody in the mainstream Press, the media or the blog community willing to entertain the possibility that what he said might might have some truth to it, or is it too frightening to even contemplate?

Many francophones I've talked expressed a fear that things will escalate and that the warning was serious.

I get a sense that our community is getting close to drawing a line in the sand and we are now subconsciously testing the boundaries.

All these hateful manifestations towards Marois and the PQ, the Facebook messages of hate is nothing compared to the water cooler talk in the office and dinner conversations around the kitchen table in English homes.
I am starting to believe that the English and Ethnic community is ready to push back, taking our cue from the students who showed how easily and effectively it is to descend society into chaos.

While Marois is talking about doubling or tripling the amount of language inspectors, she should be aware of the seriously destructive pushback on the way and like Charest who underestimated the damage the students could inflict, Marois would be best advised to mind her P's and Q's.

French versus English Volume 61

SPEAK FRENCH!

Here's another story of a stranger interceding to demand that Anglophones speak French in public, this time, believe it or not, at the officially bilingual Jewish General Hospital in Montreal!
I'm sure you've heard this story already, but just in case; 

Montreal man recovering after tomato sandwich attack

MONTREAL – Police are investigating an assault at a Montreal hospital involving a tomato sandwich. 
Forty-eight-year-old Alex Montreuil was at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal for a CT scan, the day after the Quebec election-night shooting, when he alleges he was attacked with a tuna and tomato sandwich.

Montreuil suffers violent allergic reactions to salicylates – a substance found naturally in several common foods. 
He had his first nearly fatal reaction to tomatoes a few years ago and was rushed to hospital.

"Tomatoes have a form of aspirin in them, which is deadly to me," he told Global News. "I was literally purple." 

He is very careful when eating. So, it's no surprise that when he placed his order at the Café de l'Atrium in the Jewish General Hospital on Wednesday afternoon, Montreuil took precautions. 
He asked the person working behind the sandwich counter, in English, to change the gloves she was wearing, in case they had come in contact with tomatoes.
After reluctantly agreeing to change her gloves, Montreuil was served and went to sit in the café with a friend.
As they were chatting and eating their bagels and cream cheese, an angry woman approached their table.

"Suddenly, out of the blue, this person comes up to us and starts screaming in French," Montreuil described.
She said, "Here in Quebec, we speak French, not English."
Montreuil says he replied, "In my city, in my country, I can speak the language of my choice."
After defending his right to speak English in the hospital, their conversation escalated. The woman then furiously stormed off – only to return minutes later. Read the rest of the story: Global Montreal; Montreal man recovering after tomato sandwich attack

By the way, the video I posted last week showing another language altercation where passerbys were chastised for speaking English has gone viral, approaching 300,000 views on YouTube
 The video is making headlines around the world, even piquing interest as far away as Lebanon, a society well-known for racial and religious tolerance and harmony! Link{Fr}

Students want bail conditions changed

From Clique du Plateau Original story in French

 

"Arrested when they were caught disrupting classes at the University of Montreal last week, a dozen students showed up at the courthouse this morning, hoping to drop the bail conditions that prohibits them from going near the University of Montreal.  

They complained that this condition prevents them from attending classes.

Montreal Style Deli conquers New York

Read a Globe & Mail article on a couple of Montrealers who have opened a Montreal style deli in Brooklyn and a sandwich shop in lower Manhattan, to some pretty good revues.
Gotta love the name, "Mile End Delicatessen."

"Is there a difference between Montreal deli and New York’s version?
I was longing for a certain experience of going to the deli that doesn’t exist in New York. I grew up going to Schwartz’s. I grew up knowing that feeling of walking in and it just being this shrine to this one product. It’s this one little room and everyone is seated together really tight and the place reeks of smoked meat. New York doesn’t have that community." Read the whole story

 "Mile End is a Montreal inspired Jewish Deli in New York City that specializes in traditional Jewish comfort food made from scratch.  Founded on the time tested methods of curing, smoking, pickling and baking the Mile End menus include beloved sandwiches like smoked meat on house-baked rye bread.  The New York Times dubbed it “a loving tribute to the deli tradition” and Zagat and New York Magazine voted it best deli in New York." Mile End Website

The menu is a tribute to Montreal's finest and most traditional delis, with menu items named after Beauty's, Wilensky's, etc.
Everything is Montreal, except the prices, a poutine goes for a whopping $10!

Montreal, ticket capital of Canada!

"The City of Montreal issues more fines than any other city in Canada, according to a report released Thursday. Last year, fines brought $186 million in revenue to the city, representing an average of $111 for every Montrealer.
Results in Laval show an average of $43 per person, whereas Quebec City stands at $32 for every citizen.
The average price per ticket is also higher in Montreal. Parking tickets, for example, cost $52 in Montreal, compared to $39 in Quebec City and $30 in Toronto." Read the rest of the story

Media giants square off at CRTC

Control of French TV before Bell/Astral merger

Watching Bell Media square off against Pierre Karl Péladeau's Quebecor and company reminds me a bit of the Iran/Iraq war that pitted Saddam Hussein against the Ayatollah Khomeini, a case where I just wanted both sides to lose.

I have no love loss for BELL, which raised my cable bill last year to over $150 a month, until I put a halt to the excess and cancelled half the channels.

The same thing goes for Internet when one day they sent me an additional bill for 'overuse' which promoted me to go to a much cheaper and faster small provider.
Last year they tried to squeeze out these little providers and luckily for us, the CRTC after a public outcry said no.

I certainly don't think that letting Bell acquire Astral is a good idea, but the sanctimonious objections by PKP reminds me of the pot calling the kettle black.

Mr. Péladeau believes that monopolies are bad, unless it is him owning the monopoly. Excellent Quebec logic!

Mr. Péladeau has been running a full-blown and expensive media campaign to convince the CRTC not to approve the sale of Astral to Bell and in the latest attack, he enlisted the helped of 50 of Quebec 'zartistes' who wrote an open letter opposing the Bell takeover.
Oh, spare me!
If Bell wins its fight, I hope they blackball all these sanctimonious idiots.

Ex-MNA's exit renumeration questioned

You know, I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon and complain about exit payments made to those defeated members of the National assembly or those who chose not to run.

As it is, I think they are woefully underpaid and politics being a brutal game, defeat is always staring these politicians in the face, there isn't much job security in the National Assembly.

For many, the transition out of politics is painful and sometimes followed by a period of incertitude and unemployment.

That's just my opinion, I'm sure many will disagree.

Here's a graphic prepared by the Journal de Montreal showing what each will pocket as a transition payment.

The first illustration describes those who were defeated in the last election., the second,  politicians who chose not to run in the last election.

Everything is in French but all you need to understand is the $$$ amount, plus "années de service' = years of service, the amount of time spent in the National Assembly. Read the original story in Le Journal de Montreal 

Transition payments to those members of the National Assembly who were defeated;

Transition payments to those members of the National Assembly who chose not to run again;

Canadian Universities crack Top 20

Congratulations to McGill University and the University of Toronto for their extraordinary showing, placing 18th and 19th in ranking as the best universities in the world.
It is quite an accomplishment for both schools, two great Anglo institutions. Read the story

French on the rise in west Quebec?

"Quebec's premier-designate Pauline Marois says one of her priorities is to halt a perceived decline of French in the Outaouais, but the most recent numbers from west Quebec suggest more people in the region — not fewer — are speaking French.....
The language numbers for 2011 will not be known until October. But records from the Institut de la Statistique of the Quebec government, which include statistics up to the last census in 2006, show French has actually become more prevalent in the region between 1986 to 2006.
In 1986, 76 per cent of Outaouais residents said they spoke only French at home. By the mid-2000s, that number was up to 83 per cent."  Read the rest of the story

More persecution of Blacks by Montreal police

Montreal police vs. Blacks

I've written before about Canada's most racist police force and here is just the latest sad assault by the Montreal police on the Black community.
It is hard to believe that it remains Montreal police policy to roust ⁽⁴⁾ a whole community in 2012.
The real reason the police are so out of tune with modern North American societal values is because of  the Quebec public's lack of concern for the treatment of minorities. It is sad to  say, but it is true.
From yesterday's Montreal Gazette;

Jaywalking while Black is apparently a serious offence

By Elizabeth Stronach, Special to The Gazette
On Sunday, about 9:05 p.m., I exited my house on the east side of Rosedale Ave. in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and walked across the street to where my car was parked. This was just 10 seconds after three black men in their 20s had crossed the street in the same area, which was not near an intersection.
I moved my car into my driveway and walked back up to my front door, by which time a police cruiser had pulled up opposite my house. Two officers exited the vehicle and detained the three men “for jaywalking” and demanded identification.
The three men began to loudly question the officers’ motives for detaining them.
Very soon, three additional police vehicles appeared, one of which was a supervisor’s van.
A total of eight officers questioned the three men, who were joined shortly afterward by two friends of theirs who had been attracted by the commotion. Read the rest of the story

Listen to a radio interview with the author and Tommy Schnurmacher, of Montreal's CJAD.  Link
 
Read two previous posts I wrote about the racist and incompetent Montreal police.
Montreal Police Harass Entire Black Community
Montreal Police Go Beyond Racial Profiling
 

Blowhards complain about signage

I have to say that Gilles Proulx has become one of my favourite French language blowhards, sputtering and raging over English signage with the passion and conviction of a televangelist.

When he goes into one of his sanctimonious and sarcastic rants on TV, it cracks me up!

Here he is with none other than Quebec's most notorious language whiner, Mario Beaulieu, complaining about English non-French signs (notice the sign on the video behind the desk featuring a dastardly insulting sign "IL VICINO")
Link{Fr} 

Crowing that militants had prepared a 1,000 language complaints for the OQLF, the lobby group Mouvement Montérégie Français, intimated that a crisis was upon the region and that the sky was in imminent danger of falling in on the French language.
Unsaid in all this, is that in finding these 1,000 so-called infractions, the group must have reviewed HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF SIGNS!!!!!
It's like saying that a doctor found a 1,000 cold germs in a body.
How about some context, please....

Now for an interesting tidbit that I found in only one newspaper story about  these 1,000 complaints.
Almost all the complaints were about the name on the door, we know what that is all about. Canadian Tire, Best Buy etc.etc.,
But here is something new. Complaints were made over every English Church in the surveyed area because the notice boards in front of the Church had English on them!!!!!

"However, in the case of religious organizations, they have always been exempted, as is the case,  for example, signs identifying the location of a "United Church" or any other denomination of a church frequented by English parishioners.

Mr. Beaulieu  continued on this slippery slope. "I do not see why the churches fail to comply with Bill 101. There may be English on the sign, but there must also be French, "he said. Link{FR}

CHURCHES, for God's sake!!!!!! (pardon, the pun)

Maybe they expect our clergy in English language churches, temples and mosques to give the weekly sermons in French.
In English Catholic churches,  I imagine that these kooks will demand that Confession between an English priest and an Anglo be in French as well.

To Hell heck with Greek or Russian in Orthodox churches and let us eliminate Hebrew in synagogues and Arabic in Mosques.
Let us tell the Korean Church to pray in French and the same for the Buddhists and the Sikhs.

Here's an idea for MQF, if they want to find  more violations; Visit all the English  and ethnic cemeteries and write out a complaint for every tombstone that doesn't have French on it.
I'm sure they could come up with hundreds of thousands of complaints that the OQLF could investigate until the end of time.

Readers this type of language extremism is not typical of Francophone society in Quebec, it is just the opinion of a few crazed militants in the MQF who get all together too much media exposure.

But more on all this in a future post..

At any rate, back to Mr. Proulx who over the years, has pissed and moaned against his nemesis, "BT AUTO REPAIR LTD." in Greenfield Park. He's ranted about the company name on so many occasions, I truly lost count.
After making numerous complaints to the OQLF over the name on the masthead, Mr. Proulx can finally claim sweet victory as the offending portion of the name has finally been covered up.
Congratulations and hooray! Quebec is saved and victory is sweet!

By the way, can anybody tell me what the heck is "VO/OLKSWAGEN"

Anglo arrested for hate

It finally happened, the SQ reacting to a spate of tips from an inflamed public and arrested a man for making a threat.

You can read the story here, but the man, Steve Karmazenuk got in trouble for making a direct threat;

 “Marois has stated her intent to destroy my country and gut my language rights. 

My intent is to see her government destroyed and Marois gutted.”

That second line readers is a direct threat, something I talked about in my last post .
You can hope someone comes to harm, but you cannot threaten to harm someone.

Someone created this Photoshopped insult of Pauline Marois, depicted as a Nazi. Link{Fr}

Again not hate, but pretty demeaning.

Before militants get their panties in a bunch, demanding arrests, Premier Charest was subject to the same rough treatment throughout his premiership.
Here is one from this past election which did not make the newspapers. Why is that?

Now if you really want to talk about hate, nothing beats this story of a plan to re-publish some of the worst antisemitic writing by French author Louis-Ferdinand Céline, by a small Quebec publisher.
The works are so virulently hateful, they remain banned in France to this day. Read the story

By the way, yesterday in the comments section, SQ  pointed to a video on YouTube that so clearly passes into the realm of threat that even I was shocked.
I do not understand how the video is up on YouTube for five months.
The author of the video sings a little ditty while brandishing a sword, describing how he is going to kill Jean Charest.
 

Hello, SQ? (the police, not the commenter.)  Are you going to take action here, or is it only hate against Francophones that concerns you?

Language tensions are clearly going up since the last election and it will be subject of Monday's post.


Let's end on the lighter side of the language dispute over store names.

A Montreal sushi restaurant was ordered by court to cover up its sign within 24 hours.

Why?
This is the original name to which the landlord objected too;

Please have a good weekend.